US EditionQuebec is the worst province for emergency room wait times: MEI study
- A study released by the Montreal Economic Institute in 2025 reveals that Quebec experiences the highest emergency room wait durations compared to other Canadian provinces.
- The system's collapse results from chronic staffing shortages, rising patient demand, and structural weaknesses exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The study finds that patients in Quebec face an average emergency room delay exceeding five hours, with 11.5% leaving prior to receiving care, including a notable portion from urgent priority categories.
- Emmanuelle B. Faubert, MEI economist and report author, said wait times reflect a disintegrating healthcare system and urged more immediate care centers.
- The findings imply Quebec needs urgent healthcare reforms including expanding nurse practitioner clinics and rebuilding capacity to handle growing demands.
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19 Articles
TVA Nouvelles
Le Journal de MontrealThe time patients spend in the emergency before they see a health care professional is always as long, according to a final report.
Quebec is the worst province for emergency room wait times: study
Quebec has the longest emergency room wait times, confirms a new MEI study that has compared emergency room wait times across Canadian provinces since 2020. “The overall trend is that wait times are increasing across the country, and our healthcare systems are disintegrating,” said Emmanuelle B. Faubert, an economist at the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) […]
The province comes to the last place, far behind the others with a median time of 5 hours and 23 minutes.
Quebec is the province where emergency waiting is the largest with a median time of 5:23 a.m. It has increased by more than 20% over the past five years.
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